When a director tells you to produce that next great visual effect, your job may depend on knowing fast, creative ways to get things done in Autodesk Maya. The new edition of this full-color guide is what you need to get more out of Maya and boost your professional creativity at the same time. As you work through a series of challenging projects, you'll not only discover inspired solutions and helpful shortcuts, you'll also gain valuable studio smarts from professional CG artist and author Eric Keller. The book also features mini lessons in MEL scripting from veteran Maya wizard Max Dayan to help you automate the setup of complex effects rigs. Written for Maya versions 2012, 2013, and 2014, this guide provides expertise to all Maya users wishing to up their game.